Friday Funnies #2

Here's another Friday Funny -- 

The photos I take with my cell phone are automatically uploaded and backed-up to my Google Photos, and occasionally Google will send me an e-mail letting me know that they've added a "goodie" to my storage on the cloud.

Whatever is used to recognize subjects and settings is quite intuitive, but sometimes it swings and misses.

This video compilation was sent with "Your Dogs" in the subject line. Yes, there's a dog or two in there, this is not about dogs. 

All the Ridiculous Love in the World

Dudley's toenails need to be trimmed, and I just can't bring myself to do it. I've tried to pedicure him three times in the last two weeks, but he won't play. As soon as he gets the slightest inkling of what I have in mind, he either hides under the bed or screams like I'm killing him - like BAD killing him.

The last time I carried him to the vet for a toenail-trimming, he was all smiles and rainbows. There was no screaming, no running, no attempts to hide. He acted like it was seriously no big deal. Jack says Dudley can smell my fear of cutting off one of his toes, and he's probably right. Even though I haven't said a thing out loud, Dudley is giving me suspicious looks as I type this. 

Maybe he knows I'm back on this toenail ting again. Maybe he knows I'm going to share this video:

Yes, that's still going on, and the affection is as strong as ever. If Dudley stays in the same place long enough, Kinky will show up with all the ridiculous love in the world and anoint Dudley's face and ears with it. 

Dudley and Venus were tight. They were buddies. They'd hang together on the same dog bed for hours and exchange facials for a few seconds, but this is different. And intense. Unless Kinky starts hitting Dudley with his claws, Dud is mostly content, though he does sometimes seem almost a bit embarrassed by the attention, especially in the presence of a camera. I'm not kidding when I say this scene plays out at least three times a day around here. 

Now, if only we could teach Kinky to trim Dudley's toenails as part of the grooming routine...

Squirrel Surgery

 A couple of weeks ago, Jack came home from the store with two new dog toys, one of which was a stuffed squirrel with a squeaker in both its head and the end of its tail. Since Josie has been going to training sessions with Curt, she's become more playful and engaged with her toys, and seeing how interested she is in the activities of the squirrels on our deck, it seemed like the perfect new thing.

Her initial interest was lukewarm beyond tossing it in the air a couple of times, and we thought the squirrel was destined for a lonely life of gathering dust under the couch.

A few hours later, we heard Kinky's insanely loud purring from across the room. And a couple of squeaks. He had the squirrel's tail in his mouth and was making biscuits with all four feet on it's body, occasionally stepping on the squeaker in the head. Once he caught us staring at him, he promptly stopped, but within thirty minutes, he was back at it. Purr-purr-knead-knead-knead-look guilty-knead-knead-purrrrrr.

Since then, Kinky hangs out with the squirrel about as much as he hangs out with Dudley, which is a lot and would be fine if Josie hadn't changed her mind and decided she likes the squirrel, too.

There have been a couple of incidents with barking and hurt feelings, but the squirrel situation seemed quite manageable until two nights ago when Josie proudly trotted through the house carrying only the tail in her mouth. Kinky was a few paces behind her and actually tried to take the thing away from her. After Josie had abandoned the tail on the couch, Kinky gently relocated it to the dog bed where Dudley was napping. A few minutes later, he deposited the body in Dudley's food bowl and made an appeal to his favorite dog buddy to do something to fix it. There was kneading and meowing and pacing - lots of pacing.

Yesterday morning, my first task of the day was fixing the squirrel. I used dental floss and a big needle. Good as new, and Kinky is happy. 

I Know Everybody's Tired of Reading about These Dresses, but...

Yes, folks - Lu and Bea love their new dresses. Both were a perfect fit, too.

Like Hannibal from "The A-Team" said at the climax of every episode, "I love it when a plan comes together."

I'd picked up a roll of yellow grosgrain ribbon at Hancock's at some point for some reason and made the last minute decision to create a hair barette for Beatrice using one of the art buttons I'd decided against using on the dress itself.

That's the bow pinned to the dress.

The bow ended up being the perfect accessory for Bea's little dress, and after dropping both pieces off with Mom and Dad to be delivered along with Lu's cherry dress, to the girls in Franklin, I felt guilty that Lucia didn't have anything special to go with hers. Yeah, I'd made her a yellow barrette to match Bea's, but it still wasn't "equal," and I felt that to not at least make an effort to put something special together was being a "bad Pammy."

There weren't many scraps from the cherry dress, but I'd already turned the leftovers into some one-inch bias tape, which provided a starting point. I found a length of rose-colored purchased bias tape from a previous project in a box of odds and ends. Using the edge-joining foot from my new set of presser feet and some tinsel thread I purchased because it was fun and sparkly and on sale for half price, I turned the two pieces of bias tape into a unique ribbon.

Digging more deeply into the scrap box, I discovered the remains of the silver cord I used for Lucia's "50's Day" skirt last year as well as a handful of sequins and a small jar of beads and charms from broken costume jewelry.

The bow ended up being so big and heavy, it didn't sit well on the small barrette form I'd used for the yellow bows, so I mounted it on a heavy plastic comb for thick hair like Lucia (and the rest of us) have.

Jack test piloted it over his ponytail to make sure it would stay securely in place.

Dudley test piloted it for our pure, unadulterated amusement. And now yours.

I set the clock for early Monday morning and delivered the new bow with time to spare before Mom had to leave for Franklin.

The smiles on their faces in the photo 'up top' say it all.

Dudley and Josie Get Their Nails Did

If I went to our pet supply cabinet and came out with the toenail trimmers right now, Dudley would scamper to the back corner of the house and hide under the bed for hours. I know that's what he would do, because that's what he always does.

He hides because I'm horrible at giving him a mani-pedi and always, ALWAYS end up cutting a nail or two so short that they bleed, and whether I do or not, he screams like I'm killing him, and it's just a bad scene all the way around.

Since he and Josie were both sporting long, painful-looking nails, I made an appointment and took the two of them in for a trim at our vet's office last week.

I expected the worst. Josie can be a hateful and snappy pain in the neck when she's unhappy, and Dudley can be the biggest drama queen in the world at the drop of a hat, but they were both well-behaved, and Dudley downright enjoyed himself.

If he says differently, show him this picture and call him a liar.

How Dudley Spent the Winter

Dudley's New Blanket

Dudley likes a blanket.

And this one was only five dollars at The World's Longest Yard Sale.

Moose likes it, too.

Moose on the Loose

For months now Jack and I (mostly Jack) have walked Moose on a leash during the daytime. After coming home from a morning romp with a bullet hole back during the winter, we've kept a close eye on him, supervising his almost every move. He's a good sport, but he's also a very big dog and needs more exercise than we could easily provide, so earlier this spring we started letting him go out for a few hours of play after dark every night.

He appreciates the privilege and doesn't "act a fool" like some dogs we've known and loved. He stays close and answers us when we call his name. The big field across the road is his favorite place to hang out - with his splattering of Great Pyrenees genes, he's probably guarding imaginary sheep. Most mornings when Jack gets up to let Moose in, he's either sprawled out in his "place" on the front edge of the yard or, if it's storming, his bed on the porch. If he's in neither of those, he comes when he's called.

Last week Jack and I had one of those conversations parents have before granting children new independence and decided that Moose had earned the freedom to have highly-supervised time outside during the day without the leash. He is, after all, two years old now, and he's getting over the puppy phase.

We're unsure of his exact birthday, but it has to be late May or early June. He appeared under our porch the third week of July in 2009 and was maybe ten weeks old, so yeah, he's just turned two. Sweet thing. (for a good time, click the link)

He's done great. He stays close-by and aside from a couple of temptations today during an excursion to the pond, which were totally Dudley's fault, we haven't even had to resort to raised voices.

I loved being able to carry the camera and get some nice shots of him in the great outdoors. Once he was through wading and rolling and doing his thing, he parked between Jack and I while we chased dragonflies with our cameras.

Happy day. Happy boy.

("Dudley's a good boy too," I say aloud as I write this, because I wouldn't want the little bastard to feel jealous.)

Sunday Lens

After a few weeks of "the blues" - violets and hyacinths - how about a flash of some hot color?

I absolutely love these tulips, which we planted in our front yard near the road at least eight, maybe ten, years ago. I know tulips lose some size and vigor as the multiply, but ours were sparsely planted enough that they've stood the test of time fairly well. We scattered a few here and a few there over the course of a couple of years, adding a LOT one year when we found bulbs on sale for 75% off at Lowe's.

Once the tulips have bloomed, we generally know that Spring is here to stay, and considering that it's eighty-something degrees outside on the tenth of April, summer feels right around the corner. Unfortunately this kind of heat this time of year can only mean that big storms are on the way, and surely enough, severe thunderstorms are on the docket for tomorrow afternoon. We just had some last Monday - that's all too frequent, if you ask me.

Wherever you are tomorrow, be prepared to batten your hatches and hit the ditch.

Earlier today we took Moose for a romp in the field across from the house. Since he was shot back in the winter, we've been very careful about his "outside time", limiting him to a few hours after dark, which is a changing variable this time of year. Coming later and getting shorter with the change of season, dark doesn't always come as soon as Moose would like, so for the last week or so, we've been carrying him to the Webb's field for supervised romping around of the variety dogs simply can't get at the end of a leash.

He's not big on playing "fetch" per se, but he does enjoy running around and giving chase to whatever is thrown. Unlike Jimmy Moose will pay attention to commands and come when he's called, but whenever we encounter temptations like the barking of the weekend neighbors' dog, we put him back on the leash. After all there's no reason to set him up for failure. I think he understands these romps are a privilege...

Of course Diva and Carlton were in on the fun, too.

This afternoon we took another of our Sunday photo safaris, and I'm sharing some of my better shots with you.

On the Sink Creek portion of our junket, we encountered these sweet-smelling little flowers. I'm not sure what they are, but they were growing in boggy shade and smelled delightful.

Phlox and fire-pinks are some of my favorite Spring wildflowers.

This violet growing by itself in a little pile of gravel was quite striking.

Mustard in bloom is one of the yellowest things in the world.

Sink Creek from the bridge at Barnes Mill.

Jack spotted a huge water snake looking for a place to sunbathe.

There's nothing like a country road in Spring.

One sees the most interesting things.

Yes, that's a guy playing drums.

Like I said, "interesting..."

Have a great week, everyone!